Take a special 360 view of the landmarks along the Blue Cross Broad Street Run race course.

Albert Einstein Medical Center

Just after the start of the race is the Albert Einstein Medical Center. Take a look around before you run and be ready for this first landmark on your run.

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Divine Lorraine Hotel

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On mile 5, don't miss the Divine Lorraine Hotel, one of Philadelphia's most distinguished buildings. It marks the half-way point of the race.

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City Hall

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Look up to see William Penn cheering you on from high a-top City Hall as you pass by.

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Academy of Music

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After you pass City Hall, look for the bronze gas lamps and you'll know you are passing by the Academy of Music. It's the nation's oldest continuously operating Opera House.

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Walt Whitman Statue

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At mile 9 in south Philly, look for another historic figure cheering you on. The statue of Walt Whitman stands 10 feet tall.

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Navy Yard

Once you see the iconic entrance to the Navy Yard, you're in the home stretch! Congratulations on finishing the Blue Cross Broad Street Run.

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She is one of the 1,000 most cited scientists in the world. She's written papers with three Nobel prize winners, taught a generation of young scientists at Bryn Mawr College, and called out tropes about women in math and science in her article "Sex in the Citadel of Science."On Saturday, April 22nd she'll be one of the speakers at the March for Science in Philadelphia, and in likelihood she'll pray before she goes on. Meet Michelle Francl — chemist, feminist, professor, writer and theologian.

NBC10: Tell me what you will be talking about at the March for Science.

Francl: I’m going to try to break down the standard notion of what a scientist looks like. There is a test anthropologists use called “Draw a Scientist” test, which does just what it says, hands people a blank sheet of paper and asks them to draw a scientist. The image that surfaces is incredibly consistent. People draw a man — and it’s almost always a man — in a lab coat with crazy hair, glasses at a lab bench with bubbling beakers and test-tubes.

But #actualLivingScientists (to use a popular hashtag) don’t look like that. They are short plump women with grey hair, like me. They are tall athletic young women from New Jersey…and brilliant women from Mexico. They wear headscarves and geeky t-shirts and leggings — and their lab coats. They are gay young men with beautiful bass voices, like my son.

People think that it doesn’t matter who does science, because science is supposed to be objective, and the people who do it like Vulcans, dispassionate, unemotional. They think that if it is there to be discovered, and we just have white men looking, someone will still find it. (Nuclear fission was discovered at least three times , twice by women and once by a man, some years later; he won the Nobel for it.)

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I see science as a “long, loving look at the real” — scientists are incredibly passionate about what they study. Irish crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale figured out the structure of a key molecular building block, benzene, on her kitchen table while on maternity leave. What you are passionate about determines everything, to quote the former head of the Jesuits, Father Pedro Arupe:

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.

It will decide

what will get you out of bed in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your weekends,

what you read

whom you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

And I would add, what science you do! If we limit who we let in the door to become scientists, we are limiting what science can be passionate about and thereby limiting our imagination. We are all the poorer for it. It does matters who does science, and the best science will emerge when many excellent people with different passions and backgrounds and ideas come together. There is no shortage of challenging and important problems we could all use solved — from antibiotic resistance to climate change.

And I will talk a little bit about my work with the Vatican Observatory, that for me science is a door into the sacred.

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NBC10: What prompts your desire to participate in the March for Science, and what are you most excited about?

Francl: My students! Some of them are coming to march here, others are going to DC. I want people to be able to see the science all around them and to recognize the scientists around us, too, even when they don’t look a thing like Albert Einstein. In 20 years, when people take the “Draw a Scientist” I’m hoping they draw my students.

I’m excited about scientists getting out and going public. All too often we hear about what Stephen Hawking is doing, but not what our own Monell Chemical Senses Center is doing, or how biology, chemistry and engineering work together to build better medical sensors.

Science is political in the sense that it is a tool to help us make sense of the world around us, and in that it makes stuff. Without science we have no way of understanding how and why tornados might form, or what could happen to coral reefs when more CO2 dissolves in the oceans and the pH rises. This is part of the information we need to make sound political decisions.

NBC10: People will be surprised to hear that you are a Catholic theologian in addition to a scientist... Tell me a little about how you marry the two passions.

Francl: This is back to the idea that for me science is a long loving look at the real, a phrase which comes from Walter Burdghardt SJ’s description of contemplative prayer. To look deeply into creation, and the truths revealed there, is for me a way to pray, to listen to and draw closer to God.

For me, there is a fascinating beauty in the shapes of molecules, and the ways in which they work that provokes a sense of awe, even as I understand the quantum physics that underies them. God isn’t who I invoke when I don’t understand the science — God is not a way to cover gaps in what we as scientists know.

Last year I was honored to be appointed one of a dozen scholars at the Vatican Observatory, working with the full time staff of Jesuit astrophysicists and others. It’s a wonderful to chance to merge my theological persona with my chemistry one. The Catholic church considers science to be an important part of the human endeavor, and the Observatory is one sign of that. So is Laudato Si’!

Other local scientists/theologians include Frank Ferrone, a physicist at Drexel, who wrote a book on liturgy; Kathy Duffy, SSJ, another physicist, PhD from Drexel, now at Chestnut Hill, who has written a book on theology of Teilhard de Chardin, SJ; Peter Dodson at Penn, paleoentology, who writes and talks about evolution and faith; and Steve Barr at University of Delaware, who has started the Society for Catholic Scientists which, coincidentally, is having its inaugural meeting in Chicago on Saturday.

NBC10: You've written a lot about women in the sciences, do you consider yourself a feminist? How does this fit in with the rest of your identity?

Francl: I am a feminist, who believes that we still have a hard time seeing women as scientists, here in the US and around the world, for many reasons. I’m not a different sort of scientist — kinder, gentler, more interested in cosmetic chemistry or kitchen chemistry — because I’m a woman. I am interested in quantum physics and topology and molecular structure, and I am as good at it as any guy.

NBC10: Tell me about some your national work.

Francl: I'm perhaps proudest of the piece I wrote for the UN’s International Year of Chemistry for Nature Chemistry, "Sex in the Citadel of Science," which called out some of the tropes that get hauled out all the time about women in math and science (e.g. that there are more men in the top, top percentiles of math…or that women just don’t want these jobs…or) and tried to prod us to think instead about how we design the physical space scientists work in to “fit” women.

The Food Babe. Psuedoscience propopents like the Food Babe and Joey Mercola and even Dr. Oz try to take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge about chemistry to sell something. They try to capitalize on images of disgust to sell their products, or products they get a kickback from. For example it is not true that hard to pronounce chemicals are inherently unsafe (or inherently safe), oxidane sounds nasty, and sounds nastier when I say it is the major component of urine and it’s in your coffee — but it’s just the formal name of water and you can’t live without it.

And “natural” doesn’t mean safe. Four marvels powder is an herbal remedy that is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, it can be toxic to your liver. Don’t get me started.

NBC10: Why is it important that the March for Science take place, and why should non-scientists care?

Francl: So much of what we touch and use each day is made possible by science, that it’s important for people to be able to see that, and to have good information to help them make decisions about what they want for their families, or for their neighborhoods or for our country. We live much longer because chemists can analyze the water to see if it is pure and figure out how to filter it, because biologists develop vaccines, because of antibiotics and even the light bulbs that keep us from falling down the stairs!

These customers had problems with their rebate checks after their washers were on a recall list. This prompted Harry Hairston and the NBC10 Responds team to get involved.

As the boating season shifts into high gear, efforts are ramping up at the Jersey Shore to remove a pair of maritime eyesores. One boat has been a danger to other boaters for nearly two years. NBC10 Jersey Shore Bureau Reporter Ted Greenberg has the story from Cape May.

Police shot and killed a man following a chase in Wilmington, Delaware Wednesday afternoon.

Investigators say New Castle County Police officers were following a man driving a green Honda shortly after 2 p.m. as part of a separate investigation. Police attempted to stop the man at 24th and Market streets but he refused to stop and continued driving, according to investigators.

The man first crashed near 24th and Carter streets, damaging at least two police cruisers in the process. He then continued driving a few more miles until he crashed again into a white SUV on Philadelphia Pike. He then got out of his vehicle and fled on foot, police said.

Officers chased after him leading to a confrontation in front of the nearby St. Helena's Church on 602 Philadelphia Pike. Police have not yet revealed the details surrounding the confrontation but say it led to the man being shot and killed by at least one of the pursuing officers. They also say at least two officers involved in the incident were taken to the hospital for a medical evaluation though they have not yet revealed their conditions.

Several neighbors told NBC10 they witnessed the incident.

"They had a high speed chase going on," Ann Marie Gemignani said. "And then the suspect got out and ran and then foot chase. The guy had gotten shot, the suspect. And the officer went to the hospital and the guy is still laying on the ground somewhere over that way."

Three other witnesses also told NBC10 the noise from the incident sounded like "pots and pans." A worker at a nearby restaurant also said he heard at least three gunshots during the ordeal.

As SkyForce10 hovered overhead, more than one dozen state and local police vehicles could be seen in the intersection. What appeared to be a body along with several evidence markers could be seen nearby. The FBI and officials with the Department of Justice also arrived at the scene.

There also appeared to be a sedan surrounded by four police vehicles near St. Helena's Church.

Expect traffic troubles in the area as police investigate. Market Street between 23rd and 26th streets are blocked off as well as Philadelphia Pike where cars are being detoured onto Washington Street.

Police have not yet revealed the man's identity or why they were initially following him. The investigation is active and ongoing.

When it comes to pot, the puns are endless.

Thursday’s official marijuana holiday, dubbed 420 by enthusiasts, is reaching new highs (get it?) this year. Cannabis advocates have vowed to pass marijuana cigarettes and voluntarily get arrested on the nation’s capital during their first annual "JointSession."

Advocacy group DCMJ, which spearheaded legalization of cannabis in D.C., will be leading the free giveaway. They will be offering joints to members of Congress, staffers, journalists, interns and Capitol Hill workers 21 years of age and older. Basically anyone with a valid congressional ID can get free weed.

The twist?

Depending on where the advocates are standing, this action could be completely legal because they will not be charging for the goods. D.C.’s Initiative 71 legalized possession of the plant but not its sale. People living in the District can grow up to six plants inside their home or purchase medical marijuana if they have a qualifying condition. Money cannot be exchanged for recreational cannabis.

Organizers of the JointSession are calling on House Speaker Paul Ryan to reauthorize the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which prohibits the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency from using funds to interfere with D.C. and state medical marijuana laws. The measure is set to expire April 28.

DCMJ is also asking Congress to end the federal prohibition against marijuana and allow states to determine their own laws moving forward.

“Congressional inaction and leaving harmful laws on the books isn’t any way to run a government. It is irresponsible,” said Adam Eidinger, DCMJ cofounder. “If these members of Congress ask themselves who has the most to lose from ending the war on cannabis, it isn’t the American people.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has expressed his opposition to legalized marijuana, saying "I'm not sure we're going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana sold at every corner grocery store."

The so-called JointSession will take place Thursday from noon to 4:20 p.m.

Philadelphia's 420 celebrations likely won't be as high profile. There are events planned at One Art Community Center in West Philadelphia, a pipe exhibit at Creep House Records in Northern Liberties and a High Times dance party at Coda in Center City. 

This isn't the first time DCMJ is giving away free marijuana. The organization handed out thousands of free joints in D.C. on Jan. 20 for President Donald Trump's inauguration day.

A pet alligator was found inside an apartment in the Tacony section of Philadelphia following a fire Wednesday night.

Firefighters responded to a fire on the 4800 block of Unruh Avenue at 7:47 p.m. and were able to quickly place the flames under control. Two people inside the building, which is made up of a barbershop and apartments, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were both taken to the hospital. Responders also found a small, pet alligator that belonged to one of the residents inside the apartment.

The alligator was not injured and animal control officers brought it out of the building.

Officials continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

A teen boy is accused of harassing and groping a woman on the Schuylkill River Trail over the weekend.

The woman told police she was rollerblading on the trail in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia around 5:30 p.m. back on April 15 when a group of seven to eight teen boys on bikes approached her. The woman said one of the teens then groped her before fleeing with the other boys towards City Hall.

“That’s terrible,” Diane George, a runner who frequents the trail, told NBC10. “I can imagine what that must have felt like. There are moments where you see like packs of kids together.”

Police say a similar incident occurred on the trail back in November of 2015 when a young boy riding his bike with friends inappropriately grabbed a 29-year-old woman while she was with her boyfriend. It was one of several reported incidents of harassment that led the city and the group Run 215 to create a trail watch group to help improve security. They also added emergency mile markers on light poles. The creator of Run 215 told NBC10 participation in the watch group has been low. He also says however the number of crimes on the trail has lowered and it remains one of the safest areas in Philadelphia.

If you have any information on the latest incident, please call Philadelphia Police.

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear the case of numerous women and children detained at the notorious Berks County Residential Center, lawyers for other mothers and children detained there filed another lawsuit in federal court asking for a stay of deportation.

Those four women and their children, stuck in limbo for more than a year, won a temporary victory Wednesday when a federal judge ordered that officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement halt any plans to deport those being held at Berks.

"Their officers, agents, employees, representatives, and all persons acting in concert or participating with them, are temporarily and enjoined from engaging in or performing, directly or indirectly, any and all of the following acts: removing any of the above optioned Plaintiffs and all others similarly situated and/or their minor children from the United States and/or transferring any to a location outside the Court’s jurisdiction," according to the order by Judge Lawrence Stengel of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The women left El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras many months ago, fleeing what they have described as dangerous living conditions.

An attorney for the families, Carol Anne Donohoe, said Stengel's temporary restraining order placed on ICE is a welcome development after the setback at the Supreme Court.

"This is a great outcome and we are grateful for this court to give us this chance," Donohoe said.

Other legal advocates for the Latino community tried to remain optimistic for the women and children held indefinitely at Berks despite the roller coaster week.

"They lost a battle, but they will be able to fight separately," said Erika Almirón, director of the pro-immigrant organization Juntos.

She said that based on her experience and contacts "those mothers believe they have been held for so long to make their stories an example."

"What (ICE) does not realize is that when someone is running for their lives or trying to save their children, they will do anything," Almirón said.

Despite the temporary restraining order for four mothers at Berks, the decision of the Supreme Court was seen by some legal experts as precedent-setting for many other immigrants currently in detention centers across the country. Those detainees had hoped that Castro v. U.S. might have paved the way for other undocumented immigrants' cases to be heard in the federal judicial system, and not in the Department of Justice's separate immigration court.

Brennan Gian-Grasso, a lawyer from Gian Grasso, Tomczak, Hufe Immigration Legal Services in Philadelphia, said that the SCOTUS decision is troubling at every level.

“The one thing we could all agree on [before this decision] was procedure,” he said. “That is, if everyone is guaranteed due process then, regardless of outcome, it is a fair process.”

Donohoe said three of the four children belonging to the four women who filed the lawsuit Monday already have been given work authorization, which means they are eligible to receive social security cards. 

All four children have applied for and are on a waiting list for legal permanent residence, as known as a green card.

"ICE still stated their intention to deport these families," Donohoe said.

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A man who had just left a job interview was brutally beaten, knocked unconscious and robbed by three men in the Kensington section of Philadelphia.

The attack was captured on surveillance video.

The 25-year-old victim, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10 he had just finished a job interview inside a restaurant at B and Tioga Streets back on April 15 at 12:30 p.m. As he walked out of the restaurant he was suddenly attacked by three men. A surveillance camera captured the suspects punching and kicking the man until he lost consciousness. Latoya Faison, an employee at 21st Century Storage, witnessed the beating.

"They just attacked him," Faison said. "It was vicious. The guy stomped him in his head a few times really hard. That would definitely cause a lot of trauma."

The men then stole his cellphone, wallet and money before fleeing the scene.

"That was insane," Faison said. "You could tell that the guys knew who they were looking for. Broad daylight and then right down the street from the police department? Yeah it's, I don't know. Philly has to get it together."

The victim told NBC10 he never saw his attackers coming and doesn't know who they are. 

"Anybody would be lucky to walk away despite the injuries," he said. "I hope it [don't] happen to nobody."

The first suspect is described as a black or Hispanic male with a scruffy beard and mustache. He was last seen wearing a black skully hat, black coat and black sweatpants.

The second suspect is described as a light skinned Hispanic male with bushy hair wearing a red hooded sweatshirt, red pants and red sneakers.

The third suspect is described as a stocky Hispanic male with a beard and mustache, a cast on his right arm and tattoos on both arms. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, black pants and red sneakers.

If you have any information on their whereabouts, please call the East Detective Division at 215-686-3243/3244.

Some community members in Raritan Bay fear the proposed pipeline could impact the marine life. Brian Thompson reports.

A 35-year-old New Jersey man is facing charges after a woman who lived with him died and he continued to reside with her corpse and use drugs for several days, police say.

Hopatcong Police say Matthew Schmarr spent three days getting high while the body of the 52-year-old woman lay nearby.

Officers checked on Schmarr last month after the mother of the child went to police reporting said she received a suspicious text message from him. She said she was worried about him and the woman he lived with.

When officers entered the Hudson Avenue home they found Schmarr passed out in bed. Across from him in another bed was the corpse of the 52-year-old woman.

Police say Schmarr bought heroin, crack and cocaine in Paterson before the morbid three-day period that he spent with the corpse.

Schmarr had allegedly discovered the woman was dead on Saturday, March 18, but did not alert police. Instead, according to investigators, he continued to use drugs. 

On Monday, March 20, he showed the corpse to a friend, who advised him to call police. But instead, police say Schmarr turned on an air conditioner and researched decomposition on his cell phone. Police said he also arranged prescription pill bottles around the woman's body to make her death look like a suicide.

Moreover, police say Schmarr sold the woman’s laptop to a taxi driver he knew.

Schmarr continued to live in the home and sleep in the same room with the corpse until officers woke him up on March 21.

He was arrested for outstanding warrants from Roxbury and Hopatcong and later charged with failure to report a death and child neglect. Police said the latter charge stemmed from Schmarr taking drugs in the company of a child that he was caring for at some point during the three-day stretch.

Police said possible additional charges by the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office are pending.

The woman’s exact cause of death has yet to be determined.

The NYPD says detectives have discovered surveillance footage of a prominent New York judge walking alone the night before she was found dead in the Hudson River earlier this month. 

Videos from Tuesday, April 11, show Justice Sheila Abdus-Salaam walking in the area between West 131st and West 141st streets, the NYPD said. Some of the footage shows the judge walking near the Hudson River between 8:50 p.m. and midnight. 

Abdus-Salaam is alone in all of the videos and appears to be dressed in the same clothing she was wearing when her body was pulled from the Hudson River about 12 hours later on Wednesday afternoon, the NYPD said. 

Police have not released the videos. 

Details about the videos come just a day after the NYPD said it believes Abdus-Salaam's death to be "suspicious."

Abdus-Salaam — the first black woman appointed to New York State's highest court, and the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge — was found dead in the Hudson River near Manhattan last Wednesday. 

Her body showed no obvious signs of trauma, and police declined to speculate on the cause of her death. The NYPD said Abdus-Salaam's death is being treated as suspicious until an investigation is completed and it's determined exactly how she died.

Investigators have been combing through surveillance video for days, but have had trouble piecing together the hours before Abdus-Salaam's death. They're looking for any video or any witnesses who may have seen the 65-year-old in the time leading up to her death.

An autopsy was inconclusive as to the cause of death and required further study.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce previously told reporters that Abdus-Salaam spent the weekend with her husband in New Jersey; the husband last saw her Sunday night around 7 p.m. According to Boyce, Abdus-Salaam spoke with her assistant Tuesday morning; that appears to be the last time anyone heard from her before her body was found near West 132nd Street and Henry Hudson Parkway roughly 30 hours later.

Her husband, the Rev. Canon Gregory A. Jacobs, said in a statement Wednesday that family members are vigorously disputing other media reports' speculating that she committed suicide. 

"Sheila loved Harlem and its people and lived there for nearly all of her adult life," said Jacobs. "I now join with the NYPD in asking anyone in the neighborhood to step forward with any information that might help us to determine what may have happened during those hours before her death." 

Abdus-Salaam was elected to the Supreme Court of the State of New York in 1993, where she remained until 2009. She was serving on the New York State Court of Appeals, the highest court in New York State, before her death. She was appointed to the position by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013.

Cuomo called her a "pioneer" and a "force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come" in a statement. 

Her family said Wednesday she was "an extraordinary woman," and that they loved her dearly and were "extremely proud of her." 

"We will forever reflect on her courage, determination and strength that was capstoned by her modest, humble and beautiful spirit," the Turner family said in a statement. "Her legacy of high standards, morals and values will extend far beyond the courtroom to the many lives she touched and inspired in our family and around the world!"

While she was the first Muslim woman to serve as a U.S. judge, Abdus-Salaam, who kept the last name of her first husband professionally, has not been a practicing Muslim for 20 years, according to her family. She married her Episcopal priest husband last year. 

In Harlem last week, friends and colleagues remembered her as a kind, gentle and loving fixture of her community. 

Rocco Regabulto, a 7 year-old South Jersey boy who helped save his mom's life, will be celebrated on “The Steve Harvey Show." NBC10 has a sneak peek.

Pennsylvania’s Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable (CARE) Act, a measure that lends assistance to caregivers across the Keystone State took effect Thursday.

AARP Pennsylvania hailed the CARE Act as a way to supply support to more than 1.6 million caregivers caring for older loved ones at home.

"AARP led the fight for the CARE Act in Pennsylvania to help family caregivers when their loved ones go into the hospital—and when they return home," AARP state director Bill Johnston-Walsh said in a news release. "This common sense law delivers essential support to caregivers who are working tirelessly caring for aging parents, spouses, and other loved ones, so those older adults can continue living independently, with dignity, at home—where they want to be."

The CARE Act requires that hospitals provide the chance to designate a family caregiver, inform caregivers if a loved one is being released and to where, and provide family caregivers with the information needed for home care.

"Caregiving is a big responsibility, and caregivers need all the help they can get," Johnston-Walsh said.

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AARP says "60 percent of caregivers juggle caregiving responsibilities with the demands of a full-time job, and the average caregiver will devote at least 20 hours a week to helping loved ones."

Pennsylvania lawmakers passed the CARE Act last year and Gov. Tom Wolf signed it into a law.

"The bottom line is caregiving is now a common family dynamic – if you're not a caregiver now, chances are you were one in the past, or will become one in the future," Johnston-Walsh said. "While it can be a difficult and emotionally taxing job, caregivers consider it a labor of love and simply wouldn't have it any other way. Thankfully, Pennsylvania's new CARE Act will make that job a little easier."

A South Jersey health department urged residents to stay vigilant after a family’s dog attacked a raccoon that tested positive for rabies.

The rabid animal and dog fought over dog food left outside in Camden on April, 14, the Camden County Health Department said.

Luckily no humans appeared to be exposed and the dog’s rabies vaccines are up to date, health officials said. 

The county hoped the incident would promote people becoming educated about rabies and what to do if exposed. Some of the tips from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention include avoiding rabid animals, keeping vaccinated pets under supervision outside and not adopting wild animals into a home.

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"Although rabies is a serious illness, it can be prevented by early treatment," Freeholder Carmen Rodriguez, liaison to the Camden County Health Department, said. "If you have been bitten or scratched by a wild animal it is important that you seek immediate medical attention."

"The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort," the CDC says on its website. "As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms."

“I’m basically here to listen,” said Delaware Gov. John Carney Wednesday evening as he welcomed local lawmakers and cannabis advocates to a roundtable discussion on the legalization of recreational pot.

If House Bill 110 passes, Delaware would be the first Mid-Atlantic state to welcome marijuana without medicinal constraints. It would be the ninth state in the nation to do so.

The District of Columbia legalized recreational cannabis in 2015 just one year after decriminalizing pot and introducing medical marijuana. Both New Jersey and Maryland have been stumbling through their programs with patients complaining about high costs and restrictive regulations.

Delaware, on the other hand, is poised to follow in D.C.’s footsteps. It passed medical cannabis in 2011 and is considering expanding its program, which would model the state’s alcohol laws.

An overseeing agency, the Division of Marijuana Control and Enforcement, would be tasked with regulating and limiting sales of cannabis on select days and time. Only people 21 years of age and older could purchase cannabis. Every ounce of flower would be taxed $50 while other parts of the plant would be subject to a $15 per ounce tax.

To put that into context, Colorado, one of the first states to legalize recreational cannabis, charges buyers a 10 percent state marijuana tax and a 2.9 percent sales tax plus any local sales tax. Washington state has a 37 percent excise tax.

Tax revenue would be divided between the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social Services. Portions would go towards drug abuse prevention program, public education and aiding communities “that have been disproportionately affected” by the war on drugs.

This last point is of particular interest to State Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, co-sponsored the bill and called it a “social and criminal justice issue.”

“We won’t be arresting people who don’t deserve it,” she said.

Wednesday evening’s roundtable echoed many of the familiar refrains surrounding the green rush: What would be legal? Who would oversee it? Is this really necessary?

“Yes” declared several people, including bill co-sponsor Rep. Helene Keeley. She touted several of the plan’s virtues, such as attracting more tourism and bringing in much needed tax dollars to Delaware.

“I was surprised by some of the people who called me and expressed interest,” she said, adding that everyone from farmers to bankers are included in her long list of supporters.

But the conversation soured at several points. Opponents expressed concerns that rumors of a green rush are exaggerated.

“The black market will always exist,” said Delaware resident Bruce Lorenz. “We haven’t got all the answers yet and I think that decriminalization goes a long way to getting where you want to be. Commercialization of this is not a good idea.”

He added that “if someone has to pay an extra $50 for an ounce of pot, they will probably get the un-taxed version.”

Carney’s take on the issue remains unknown. He has voiced opposition in the past, but reemphasized his support for medical marijuana. Wednesday evening, the governor again toed a middle line.

Several people in the audience suggested letting voters decide the issue. Carney nodded when the idea of putting the bill on a ballot was mentioned.

“Let me be clear I have not expressed my support for [the bill],” Carney said, but added that he is willing to hear all sides.

Philadelphia police accused a soccer coach of fathering a child with a teenager who came to him for a job.

Philadelphia police announced statutory rape charges Thursday against Francisco Prado-Contreras of South Street.

DHS alert police to the report of a 15-year-old girl with a 7-month-old child who could belong to Prado-Contreras, police said.

Prado-Contreras was a family friend of the girl’s and coached her soccer team, police said.

She came to him in September 2015 asking for a job helping him clean houses, investigators said. Instead of offering the girl a job, Prado-Contreras had sex with the girl on five occasions, giving the girl money each time, police said.

The girl learned of her pregnancy about a month later, police said.

It was unclear if Prado-Contreras had a lawyer who could comment on the accusations.